Sotheby’s brings the most expensive photograph of the Fall season to market in its Contemporary Art sales next week in New York, in the form of a print from Andreas Gursky’s Pyongyang series. Like Christie’s, the auction house is offering less aggregate photographic value this season as compared with last spring. Overall, there are a total of 52 lots of photography available across the two sales, with a Total High Estimate of $6942000.
Here’s the statistical breakdown:
| Preview Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000) | 3 |
| Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of low lots) | $24000 |
| Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000) | 26 |
| Total Mid Estimate | $643000 |
| Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000) | 23 |
| Total High Estimate | $6275000 |
The top photographic lot by High estimate is lot 55, Andreas Gursky, Pyongyang IV, 2007, estimated at $1200000-1800000 (image above, via Sotheby’s).
Here’s the complete list of photographers with two or more photography lots in the sales, along with the number of lots on offer:
| Multiple Lots For Sale | |
|---|---|
| Cindy Sherman | 5 |
| Andreas Gursky | 3 |
| Vik Muniz | 3 |
| Wolfgang Tillmans | 3 |
| Matthew Barney | 2 |
| Rineke Dijkstra | 2 |
| David LaChapelle | 2 |
| Louise Lawler | 2 |
| Gabriel Orozco | 2 |
| Thomas Struth | 2 |
| Andy Warhol | 2 |
Other lots of interest include (images above, via Sotheby’s):
Lot 262, David Hockney, Ponder Hall (‘Thrushcross Grange’), Howarth, Yorkshire, 1983, estimated at $40000-60000
Lot 488, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #195, 1989, estimated at $100000-150000
Lot 536, Wolfgang Tillmans, Mental Picture #18, 2000, estimated at $10000-15000
The complete lot by lot catalogs can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).
I find the Hockney picture very interesting. That overcast sky, wet caramel coloured Yorkshire stone, in fact it is uncannily accurate about the weather in England even today. I wonder if he knew those people sat there (probably) and how odd was it to be standing there taking in the order of 150 photographs – presumably having to stop and faff about rewinding and re-loading his camera at least three times, building up coverage, must have taken him quarter of an hour at least – and when assembling deciding to omit one rectangle in the middle, excellent.
Like the Weston image included in one of the other auction pages, you get a real sense of the ‘making’ of the picture. With Weston it’s him ducking under black cloth and making sense of what was displayed on the ground glass screen, upside down and inverted horizontally. That sense of his consideration, over time.